Impacts of the 2024 Election on the Fight Against Climate Change
The results of the 2024 election came out two weeks ago, and we saw that the Donald Trump administration is taking power for a second term. Another term with the Trump administration has serious implications on climate efforts and policies.
In his 2016 term, we saw Trump pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, an international agreement for all participating countries to commit to reducing emissions. According to Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State in 2018 to 2021 Trump pulled out of the agreement because of the “unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement.” However, there were broader implications of this pullout. Drew Kann from CNN corroborates that U.S. pullout from an agreement it helped negotiate “will harm the country’s standing [and credibility] internationally”. Further, Trump had cut back on more than 125 environmental regulations that protected the environment, public health, animals and prevented excessive mining, deforestation, and pollution. Climate change clearly was not a priority for Trump in his first term, and likely will not be in his second one either.
Trump was re-elected for Office on November 6, 2024, and is scheduled to take his seat on January 20th 2025. During his campaign and after winning, Trump made it clear that climate policy was not a focus of his campaign or presidency. In fact, Trump has pushed for scaling back crucial environmental services such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior, expanding oil and gas production, while limiting clean energy development, as well as putting federal climate policies on ice, pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement yet again, and removing financial assistance to climate-vulnerable nations, according to Christina DeConcini at the World Resources Institute. And these are just some of the changes to expect. Especially with a Republican majority in the House and Senate, climate policies are hardly on the table anymore.
Despite the absence of support for climate action on the federal level, all hope is not lost for America's climate goals. Despite federal pullout on climate action in 2017, over 4,000 businesses, tribes, states, local governments, and companies signed the America is All In initiative, which is an initiative to follow through on the goals set for emissions in the Paris Climate Agreement. Furthermore, many states have ambitious climate policies. For example, 24 states have joined the U.S. Climate Alliance which is an organization dedicated to net-zero emissions by 2050 and comprises 57% of the American population. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act, a law which provides unprecedented investment into clean energy companies, enacted by the Biden Administration has created over 330,000 jobs in each state in the U.S. Such a crucial law for employment and well-being of Americans cannot be gutted by the new Republican government.
Lastly, the government is not the only thing that controls emissions. The private and public sector and the general population also play large roles in the fight against climate change. Nearly half of large corporations have pledged net-zero emissions. Several businesses are part of the America is All In initiative. Furthermore, the population has become more aware about the causes and consequences of climate change and are aware of the potential disaster that can result from the crisis. In fact, 74% of Americans said that they would be willing to make changes to their lifestyle to reduce the effects of climate change.
The Trump Administration is absolutely a setback in the fight against climate. From the actions we say in the 2016 term, to the projection of the next four years in the climate space: it is definitely going to be an uphill battle. However, so many people are devoted to fighting against climate change, from states and local governments to businesses and corporations to the general public: the fight has not been lost. Thanks to the immense effort of so many people and organizations, the various initiatives that we have, and the actions of past political leaders, we have the framing and support we need to move forward and meet our climate goals. All we need to do is not lose hope.